Environmental protection doesn't happen in a vacuum. You can't separate the impact on the environment from the impact on our families and communities.
I think an old style of addressing environmental problems is ebbing but the rise of the so-called conservative political movement in this country is not a trend towards the future but a reaction to this very broad shift that we are undergoing.
In the rich world the environmental situation has improved dramatically. In the United States the most important environmental indicator particulate air pollution has been cut by more than half since 1955 rivers and coastal waters have dramatically improved and forests are increasing.
The main environmental challenge of the 21st century is poverty. When you don't know where your next meal is coming from it's hard to consider the environment 100 years down the line.
Without international participation jobs and emissions will simply shift overseas to countries that require few if any environmental protections harming the global environment as well as the U.S. economy.
Our work on light bulbs wasn't an arbitrary mandate. We didn't just pick a standard out of the air or look for a catchy sounding standard like 25 by 2025 not based in science or feasibility. Instead we worked with both industry and environmental groups to come up with a standard that made sense and was doable.
New Zealand needs to balance its environmental responsibilities with its economic opportunities because the risk is that if you don't do that - and you want to lead the world - then you might end up getting unintended consequences.
Federal elections happen every two years in this country. Presidential elections every four years. And four years just isn't long enough to dismantle all the environmental laws we've got in this country.
I decided that now is the time to start doing the things that really interest me and I find important. It was in the 10 years of the MacArthur grant that I began working on my first book... and I began putting more work into environmental history.
These days most nature photographers are deeply committed to the environmental message.